The impact of organizational support on the transfer of learning to practice

Child welfare professionals (CWPs) participate in trainings to facilitate the adoption of emerging and promising practices. Although organizational support has been argued to facilitate the association between training impact and transfer of learning, empirical examination of this process is limited. Based on data from 511 CWPs who completed a one-day training to offer relationship and marriage education (RME), we examined the moderating effects of organizational support on the association between learning impact (i.e., competency and utility reaction) and subsequent application of RME with clients within six months post-training. Results from structural equation modeling showed that perceived support from administrators and co-workers post-training was not as influential to trainees who demonstrated higher learning impact. However, those who reported lower levels of learning impact were more likely to apply the training materials if they perceived greater organizational support when compared to those who felt less support from administrators and co-workers. Implications for child welfare organizations and future trainings are discussed.